V. A. Saturday

In 1991 Creation records began issuing a series of five volumes of early and deleted Creation singles dating right back to the label's first release, CRE01 by The Legend. The compilations were called Creation Soup and were also put out as a box set, Creation Soup: Volumes One To Five (The First Fifty Singles). All the 80s Creation names are present and correct- Biff Bang Pow, The Jasmine Minks, The Pastels, The Loft, The Bodines, Primal Scream, Meat Whiplash, Felt, The Weather Prophets, Slaughter Joe, Nikki Sudden, The House Of Love et al. 

On Volume One a message from Alan McGee read, 'This record is part of an overall series of releases documenting the now deleted early Creation singles. The first twenty came in hand folded sleeves which Joe Foster and I used to stay up and fold all night four or five times a week. This series is meant for the obsessive Creationist. Now it's all available again... stop writing us your letters! -The President, January 1991" and another, "Creation Records acknowledges the following: Dan Treacy, Joseph Foster, Edward Ball, Bobby Gillespie, Jeff Barrett, Jerry Thackeray, The Living Room bands and clientele and absolutely no one else.

The desire to give the Creation fans who missed out in the mid- 80s what they wanted was one reason for the albums' existence. In David Cavanagh's account of the label, My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry For The Prize, he says that the five various artist compilations were as much about generating cash flow as anything, money coming in to pay debts at a time when both Primal Scream and My Bloody Valentine were in the studio, MBV particularly racking up bills while attempting to realise Kevin Shields' dream. Creation was constantly hard up- Screamadelica, Bandwagon- esque and Loveless would all be out by the end of '91. The cash rich days of Oasis were a few years away. But no matter, the music contained within the five volumes of Creation Soup is reason enough for their existence. These two songs by Pete Astor are shining examples of why Creation had a back catalogue worth re- issuing. 

The Loft's Up The Hill And Down The Slope is a 1985 indie- pop classic, all jangly guitars, trebly and Pete Astor's vocals, pleading for a spin around the fair. It appears on Creation Soup Volume Two. 

Up The Hill And Down The Slope

The Loft split up on stage in 1985. Pete Astor then formed The Weather Prophets whose single Almost Prayed is as good as any anyone on Creation wrote and released, a genuine peak. It was a 1986 single and then on Creation Soup Volume Three.

Almost Prayed